A change to the plans of a proposed development for retirement-age residents has sparked a debate over whether the city is getting what it originally agreed to.
Sandy River Health Systems, operators of the Springbrook Nursing Care Center, presented its final plans last week to the Westbrook Planning Board for Stroudwater Landing, a retirement development on a 53-acre plot between Stroudwater and Spring streets. The reaction from some was not favorable.
Upon reviewing the new final plans, residents and city councilors suggested that the company is shying away from a retirement-age-only community to a development that would include younger residents, possibly even children.
“There could be potential for young people going into that area,” Stroudwater Street resident Deborah Rummery said Wednesday.
Sandy River, for its part, said it is still targeting older persons without children to impact Westbrook’s school system and tax base. The company downsized the original plans to decrease the impact on traffic and the environment.
“We’re still serving an older crowd – empty-nesters,” said Sandy River spokesman Daniel Maguire this week.
Rummery said the matter brings to light the public policy issue of holding developers accountable to their initial plans. She said if Sandy River said originally said it was intending to build what might be an open development, the company could have done it somewhere else in the city, in an area already designated as residential.
City Council President Brendan Rielly shares Rummery’s concerns, saying this week that he has introduced a referral to change the city’s ordinance to hold developers accountable to their original project.
“If someone shows us a pretty picture of a planned project, then they’re going to be bound by that,” he said.
Maguire said that the community would not be age-restricted, meaning that it would not fall under the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995 requiring at least one person under the household to be at least 55 years old. The community will, however, be age-targeted. Sandy River will design and market the development to cater to empty-nesters, as opposed to families. For example, the community will not have playgrounds.
Guy Cote, who lives on Laffin Drive isn’t so sure. “They’re going to market it to retirees at first,” he said. “But in the long run, it’ll be market-driven.”
Maguire said the company is choosing to target rather than restrict an age group because it doesn’t want to exclude a portion of the population that has no children but is not over 55 years old.
“I am 52 years old, and my children are grown,” said Maguire. “For example, someone like myself may want to downsize (their) living situation and live in such a community as Stroudwater Landing. However, (they) would not be able to do so if it were age-restricted.”
Early last spring, the Westbrook City Council approved a zone change from rural to residential growth to enable Sandy River Health Systems, operators of the Springbrook Nursing Care Center, to build what was called at the time a “retirement campus,” incorporating the existing nursing home. Sandy River currently has a contract on the land to purchase it from the Animal Refuge League.
The retirement campus was to include one-level condominiums for those seeking a measure of independence, but in a home more tailored to their special needs; an apartment complex for those with somewhat more advanced needs; and the existing nursing home for those needing full-time care.
Sandy River has since dropped its plans for the apartment complex, which has caused a reaction. Instead, it is planning to build a 114-unit development and community center. The development would include single and duplex cottages, larger townhouses and a community center.
Rummery said she thought the retirement campus would be one where a person would move gradually over the years, from a single-unit home to the apartment building and, finally, to the nursing home. She doesn’t see the same connection as before.
Cote said he’s worried that what was intended to be a retirement community could now change. While he thought the retirement community would be a good idea, he’s worried that if the market requires it, Sandy River would sell to families and not just older persons.
Maguire said the price range, style and marketing of the development would prevent any families with children wanting to move in. He also said the intent of building the development is to cater to an ever-growing older population in Westbrook.
City Councilor Sue Joyce said she was also surprised and disturbed by the change.
“I’m very disappointed that the proposal was changed,” said Joyce. “They came before us with assisted living. That was the real push – the assisted living.”
Maguire said, while some in the city might have thought the original project included assisted living, it never did. He said the apartment building was intended as independent living. He said the company might revisit development of an apartment building at a later date, but for now the community would stay at 114 units.
While the city council already approved the zone change, the council has asked Sandy River representatives to clarify the changes to the project next Wednesday, Jan. 17, at a Committee of the Whole meeting.
Sandy River is still waiting for site-plan approval for the project from the planning board, which, seeking more information, tabled the item at its Jan. 2 meeting until a later date.
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